Let's Explore the Yamaha PSS-51 Keyboard Synth - Feat. The Polyend Tracker
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
- Website: www.msmadlemon.com
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Always had a soft spot for Yamaha PSR and PSS keyboards from this era. Just about every local 2 piece band at every wedding or hotel lobby had a similar one. I love how yours has multiple midi channels for the 4 voices. That's a rare thing for a consumer keyboard of that age. And yes, I totally shamelessly sampled fart noises into an SK1 before too 😊.
ZOMG I had the American version of the PSS-51 (along with a second keyboard) when I was in band (that successfully played out in local clubs) in the early 90s! The only things different were the colors of some of the keys above the keyboard. This is so nostalgic!
I've had a Motif 6 for the past 20 years, and just got a MODX6+ a few months ago. A Sequential Circuits Pro 3 SE will be here tomorrow. I've had a number of Yamaha's over the decades since the 80's, really like Yamaha. But I also miss the subtractive synth (Commodore SID Chip) which is why I ordered the Pro 3.
How many times I played on that keyboard. Even without regular keys was amazing. And has amazing sounds too with the vectorial synthesis.
Some great PortaSounds out there. PSS-680, PSR-480, PSS-460, PSS-380 & the samplers VSS-30/200 to name a few.
I was wondering what the buttons below the keys were for around 10:29
Oh, percussion pads, now that is cool!
Lovely to see you had not one but two glamorous assistants in this video!
No shortage of glamorous assistants around here! They do a good job I must admit :-))
I first found out in the most startling of ways what they were when I accidentally caught one with my hand!
Love the arrangement and how each sound gets its own moment
Now the weekend has begun! Tks!
1:40 .... Love is.....
Wow it's like a semi pro keyboard than a toy one, I don't think The 8 Bit Guy has done one on this, fun video too 😁
MIRRORS❤❤❤ Amazing stuff, some really great sound and editing. Your recent videos have got me interested in picking up a PSS 480 that a friend had back in secondary school in 1989. Loved it and would just like to re-live some of those memories😊 (messing about with the tunes, I’m no musician!).
This was a fun video. I had a couple different Yamaha keyboards back in the late 80's & 90's. They were a happy medium between a toy and a decent piece of equipment. I grew up playing them and loved everyone of them. The one you have was the holy grail that I never got my hands on. Btw, I still have my Casio SK-1 and I can confirm that back then sampling burps and farts were a huge part of owning that keyboard 😄. I'm sure my parents quickly regretted buying that for me. Later I got a Yamaha that had a sampler (I don't remember the model). That one could manipulate the samples. My favorite was being able to reverse the samples. I had a lot of good times with that keyboard.
Thanks for sharing this. I really enjoyed it. 🍻
I forgot to say that out of all the keyboards I owned my favorite was one from Radio Shack (believe it or not). If I remember correctly it was their flagship model : Concertmate 1000 (or something close to that). The strings, piano and the pipe organ were absolutely beautiful sounding (imo). If you ever get an opportunity to check it out, I would highly recommend it. I still regret getting rid of it everytime I think about it.
@@OneRoomShed Wasn't the Concertmate 1000 essentially a re-branded Casio CT-700? i know there's a re-branded Casio SK Keyboard under the Radioshack/Realistic name. By the sounds of it I'm guessing they'd be Casio keyboards at heart.
I just looked it up, I knew I had heard the 'Concertmate' name before... Realistic Concertmate 500 = Casio SK1 🙂
images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--qKhVDE1x--/f_auto,t_large/v1639529725/cxfsekg7dw2skuvvugal.webp
Also Concertmate 370 = Casio SA-8 haha I'm thinking they're rebranded Casio keyboards.
@@MsMadLemon not surprised. Most of RS was re-branded electronics at one point. I don't know about the Concertmate 1000 because I don't remember ever coming across a Casio or other brand name like it (but I'm sure it is). I only bought it because I found it on store clearance for less than half price and thought I'd just to mess around with it. As far a features it's kissing a lot but I found the voices to sound really good (at least back then). It just surprised me and used it years just for the instruments.
Hiya Maddi ☺️ This was a wonderful upload for many reasons. l super appreciate Rich getting in on the act as l know he’s somewhat camera shy so thank you Rich, (that was hilarious by the way lol) I am always happy to see some Mr.Neelix action and l hope he has a track dedicated to him on the new album 🤔 That Yamaha was gorgeous, and l can’t believe how crisp and clean those sounds are and how absolutely feature packed it is…amazing. And once the Polyend tracker got hooked in and was just fabulous stuff. I have to say as well Maddi that the production quality of this upload was superb. Clever effects used wisely and just generally it was a treat to watch and listen. Thank you for what you share with us and l hope you, Rich, Mr Neelix and everyone there have a great rest of your weekend ☺️👍🏼
Hey Jason!
Hahah Rich getting in on the act. His fart noises have to be immortalised in some way or form. I'm glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Neelix wouldnt shut up all the way through this shoot lol, he's full on attention hog so I had to put him on camera. The Yamaha has some unique sounds which I'm really digging, I have favourites already, as you've guessed some of my new tracks are going to have the PSS-51 flavour to them 🙂
Thank you Jason, I hope you and yours have a great weekend also 🙂
The PSS keyboards were quite powerful! I miss mine for sure
Thats a good setup for making tunes, nice to see Rich making a cameo in the video :)
And he did in typical Rich fashion lol
The lighting in this video is horrendous, its recovered low light. The Neewer light bar thing just arrived, it doesnt seem as bright as i'd expect but lets see how it is in the next video. I'll let you know.
@@MsMadLemon Lol hopefully hes a regular,In here is similar the sun and light never seems to hit the right places, hopefully the lightbar improves it for you.
This particular version I believe is sample based btw.. The AWM keyboards contained very high quality samples. There were versions of the PSS that were FM based as well, and let you make your own custom patches. (PSS-680)
Desde 480 creo
Lovely sounding keyboard ............ reminds a bit like the ones we had a school (a bit)
Cool video. I've still got my Yamaha PSS 380 in original box. Loved learning to play on that "toy" keyboard. The synthesizer sliders could transform all the presets into some unique sounds.
That was my first - and, unfortunately, my only - MIDI keyboard. I used it with my Amiga 2000, a MIDI-to-serial adapter, and MED.
That really IS quite clean sounding! Maybe it's a combination of interpolation and smart layering. I was always surprised how nice 80s and early 90s cheap keyboards were compared to sound chips used in computers. Then again I had a mid 90s Casio for a while and it was crunchy as hell!
This video made me think of Casioworks by Gust De Meyer, a set of pieces made with a Casio VL 1. A very whimsical sound you also have in your compositions which I really, really love.
Cats and vintage synths - I'm all in!
"It's not a toy." That was my biggest worry with the sound of so many keyboards back in the '80s. Some of those deep string sounds are great. No wonder some great bands used it. Great overview and insight, Maddi!
Nice! My brother had a Jupiter 8, Mini Moog and Synclavier years ago, he's 53, me 49 🙂
Sadly though he had to sell them all about 5 years back due to financial reasons.
I'm curious about the Jupiter 8 but it's a mammoth, i'm not sure if they've done a remake of it or not, I know they have with a few.
Sorry to hear he had to sell them though, that sucks.
Good to hear from you! And the fabulous assitants are an added bonus, too!
Good finding. Nice little toy to have fun with 🥳
Nice techno song you put together. I've got the PSS 480 with the built in synthesizer. Fun times.
HHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHA RICH's face! HAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA
Im crying! LOOOOOL
LOL I must admit that cracked me up too when I was editing this :-)))
The best vídeo in UA-cam of this synth.
Awesome I have the older PSS 790 version of that keyboard. And a pss 780 and psr 500, the sound pretty cool controlled via my sequencer and ran through some pedals. Also forgot to say if you hook up midi to it you can play more that one sound per a channel can't remember if you an play all 16 but 4 works on the 780, it's a read the manual job each time for me.
brilliant Video just what I like a nice and creative work flow. your cat is so cute.
I had this, or one very similar. The 8 track real time sequencer was a revelation and joy! One had to play really carefully though. Lots of takes!
It certainly does sound sample based - probably one of Yamaha's GM/XG soundsets. It also sounds like it's doing simple interpolation of the samples to cross between the four "vectors". This was certainly 90's sometime to my mind, simply because by then the technology would have been established to put this into a consumer keyboard. By then simple effects were available as part of the chipsets too. If you listen to the sounds, piano for example, you can hear the limits of the samples, which are short.
Perhaps I should listen through headphones then as the built in speakers aren't going to be the best.
@@MsMadLemon No, the built in speakers are never going to be great - you'll hear much deeper through the headphones, or hook it into your mixer (carefully adjust the gain to not clip) and listen on your monitor speakers.
Nice. I have a pretty solid collection of Yamaha PSS series keyboards but the PSS-51 is definitely a rare one.
I like all of the Yamaha PSS range of keyboards. But the 51 seems to be the best I've seen for functionality.
That sound you used at 10:30 sounds remarkably like the patch used in the bridge and chorus of ABC's "Be Near Me". As a kid in the early 90s I had Casio keyboards but my good friend had a Yamaha and I always thought that Yamaha in that period sounded better than Casio. Great video and that keyboard is amazing! Nice arrangement toward the end by the way! the one made of flatulence was pretty killer too lol
nice review! )
Nice video!
I used to write on a very similar Yamaha model. I cannot remember exactly which one. They are excellent for putting the fundamentals of a song together.
On a side note I wrote this ambient piece Ms Mad Lemon for my love of gaming. Not sure if it interests you but thought I'd drop it here incase. ua-cam.com/video/Rq7nW4HmxwI/v-deo.html
Yeah i too loved the "sports outfit" color-palettes of the late 80s and early 90s Keyboards. Looks even nicer than my Yamaha PSS 680. It didn't have a Vectorstick but the 2 OP FM synthesis is super fun, especially if you like the sound of the Mega Drive and the OPL2 sound of DOS games. They did some awesome budget keyboards with amazing capabilities and charme. Both Yamaha and Casio. The diddly keys are not a problem because at least you get 5 octaves. :) The mini Pitchbender is also very luxurious as well as the MIDI Jacks when you consider it's still a "Kids" keyboard. Love the mix of Roland D-50 and General MIDI wavetable. There's something so nice and fuzzy about that period of keyboards. *cha cha cha* ;)
Yes ive been looking for it too
I had t he PSS-480 / PSS-580 when I was a kid, and never know what it was capable of. Turns out it is a fantastic FM synth. Two operators, but so easy to program, and there's a fantastic four-part series about it by Kenn On Keys. He gets some incredible sounds out of it.
More than a few of the preset voices aren't particularly good... But I encourage checking it out, as it can sound superb with just a bit of programing. IMO it is much easier to program than something like a Reface DX.
Maddi, I know you said the keyboard isn't velocity sensitive, but does it respond to velocity over MIDI? That would be awesome.
The sounds are Yamaha's AWM format which are sampled waveforms akin to their professional Montage and Motif keyboards and workstations. Now you've made me want to connect my Polyend Tracker to my Motif XF8!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks for clarifying about the samples, it made me doubt hearing them because they sound so clean. So they indeed are sampled waveforms, that's impressive!
I've done basic things with MIDI in the past but the first time I've a synth with Polyend. Really excited now! 😀
Hope you have a wonderful weekend Corey!
Hey Maddi. I've noticed that the audio seems to sound like it's panning about a bit, mostly noticeable in your voice. I'm just mentioning it because I've seen other people mention it in other videos (not yours) and there was a lot of discussion (or arguments) over if it's something UA-cam is doing with their re-encoding process. I'm curious.
That's a nice looking keyboard. They certainly knew how to make them look appealing with all the colours and different shaped keys, regardless of the capabilities. I always used to look at all the keyboards in the old Tandy stores when I was a kid.
This isn't youtubes issue in my case, but the issue with my mics, I have RODE Wireless Go II mics and the sound isnt constant at times, as in they sweep in and out and it's getting really annoying, almost like there's an aggressive noise gate on it which I dont know how to turn off. Ive contacted RODE themselves about this as it can really ruin footage. Just waiting for their response.
The keyboard is indeed beautiful, loving the 80s look to it and it's not too kiddish looking thankfully.
@@MsMadLemon Thanks for the clarification on that. It makes sense that it's just coincidence that this other issues popped up around the same time. I have to say it's the first time I've noticed that in your videos. But anyway, I didn't let it spoil it 🙂
At the vector subth you forgot at 3:26 are the PSS-790&795
Check out the Yamaha TG-33. It has a very unique sound.
If i'm correct, I think that's the sound module version of the SY22 which I mentioned in the video. And you're right, Indeed it has a very unique sound!
@@MsMadLemon Yes. It is often described as the module version of SY22 but it has twice as many voices and sounds different somehow. It looks a bit like a games console. The Kawai K1m is another vector synth in the same form factor.
@Ms Mad Lemon -- Thanks for the detailed review. How long were you actively looking for this keyboard? I'm also trying to find it. It looks pretty similar to the PSS-790.
My pleasure, thanks. I have been looking for this one for a few years now.. They don't seem to come by that often. I remember seeing the pss-790 they're both vector keyboards but I had my heart set on the pss-51 and specifically it's sounds. If you're after one, I recommend saving the ebay search as in get it to notify you via email for new listing's on the pss-51.
@@MsMadLemon Aw Man, sounds like I have my work cut out for me. wish me luck
Wanted to get One of these or a kurzweil but prices are out of any reason in eBay
I was lucky to even find one on ebay, i've been searching periodically for years with not even a single one coming up
Only pity is the E. Piano sounds NOTHING like one on both the PSS-790&795 too:-(
MAM ITS AVAILABLE FOR SALE
Keyboard sale
? ...This isn't an advertisement, its a vintage product, not for sale.
lol, real synths are not that expensive nowadays